Beware of Casual Snacking
When we snack on food and drinks between meals, for those that are focused on losing weight, this is particularly the time that needs to be carefully monitored. Even though you may associate snacking with something small and rather insignificant, more often than not, snacking episodes can rival the calorie intake of an entire lunch or dinner meal.
You can imagine how damaging this would be to a person whose goal is to lose weight, and why paying particular attention to the snacks that are consumed is crucial for weight loss success.
Nutrition is the backbone of a healthy life. In order to lose weight, everything you consume throughout the day should be considered to potentially have negative effects on your body. Not only is the food and drinks you consume at breakfast, lunch, and dinner important, but also the foods and drinks you consume in between these meals in the form of snacks. In other words, what good is it going to do if you eat three healthy meals, but then opt to drink a large glass of soda and a bowl full of potato chips as a snack in between these healthy meals?
All that great effort you put forth in eating healthy appropriate portion sized meals is thrown out the window when you consume over 800+ calories in the form of a "snack".
Where most find difficulty is when snacks are consumed at leisure times. This could be at breaks while at work, when getting home and watching television, or when simply reading a book or browsing the Internet. All these moments are when our mind and body are relaxed which is why it's easy to let the guard down and give in to those simple pleasures.
Worse yet, during this leisure time, since our mind is preoccupied with some other task such as talking, watching what's going on the tv/computer screen, or what's happening in the book, our hand and mouth go into automatic mode and we often eat much more than we should particularly for a snack.
This is when snacking really becomes dangerous and why it's so important to actually plan out your snacks just like you do for healthy meals. Since snacks are usually light and quick, they shouldn't take much time in the form of planning.
Think small and nutritious, under 200 calories each, and always try to follow up your snacks with a large glass (or bottle) of water. You'll find if you eat your snacks in this manner, your appetite will be satisfied enough to make it to your next meal.
Try this the next time you need a snack and see if it helps keep the episode under 200 calories.
You can imagine how damaging this would be to a person whose goal is to lose weight, and why paying particular attention to the snacks that are consumed is crucial for weight loss success.
Nutrition is the backbone of a healthy life. In order to lose weight, everything you consume throughout the day should be considered to potentially have negative effects on your body. Not only is the food and drinks you consume at breakfast, lunch, and dinner important, but also the foods and drinks you consume in between these meals in the form of snacks. In other words, what good is it going to do if you eat three healthy meals, but then opt to drink a large glass of soda and a bowl full of potato chips as a snack in between these healthy meals?
All that great effort you put forth in eating healthy appropriate portion sized meals is thrown out the window when you consume over 800+ calories in the form of a "snack".
Where most find difficulty is when snacks are consumed at leisure times. This could be at breaks while at work, when getting home and watching television, or when simply reading a book or browsing the Internet. All these moments are when our mind and body are relaxed which is why it's easy to let the guard down and give in to those simple pleasures.
Worse yet, during this leisure time, since our mind is preoccupied with some other task such as talking, watching what's going on the tv/computer screen, or what's happening in the book, our hand and mouth go into automatic mode and we often eat much more than we should particularly for a snack.
This is when snacking really becomes dangerous and why it's so important to actually plan out your snacks just like you do for healthy meals. Since snacks are usually light and quick, they shouldn't take much time in the form of planning.
Think small and nutritious, under 200 calories each, and always try to follow up your snacks with a large glass (or bottle) of water. You'll find if you eat your snacks in this manner, your appetite will be satisfied enough to make it to your next meal.
Try this the next time you need a snack and see if it helps keep the episode under 200 calories.
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